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THE STRUGGLE OF THIRTEEN STATES 
FOR THIRTEEN YEARS 

TO CREATE A GOVERNMENT. 
1776-1789. 

AN ADDRESS 

BY 

WINSLOW WARREN, 

Delivei!ei> before the Bunkeu Hill Monument Association 
Junk 17, 1912. 



BOSTON: -JUNE, 1912. 



THE STRUGGLE OF THIRTEEN STATES 
FOR THIRTEEN YEARS 

TO CREATE A GOVERNMENT. 
1776-1789. 



AN ADDEESS 

BY 

WINSLOW WARREN, 

Delivered before the Bunker Hill Monument Association 
June 17, 1912. 



BOSTON: JUNE, 1912. 



1C DEC ff. 



1^36^ 



jA'3S 



ADDRESS. 



A casual reading of the Declaration of Independence may 
well give the impression that with its promulgation there 
and then the United States were born and a new American 
Nation created. 

In a sense it was the birth of the United States ; but 
nothing caiv be farther from the actual fact than that- it 
created a Nation. It proclaimed nothing but the existence 
thereafter of Thirteen Independent States, if they could 
maintain themselves, although it contained within itself 
certain ideals which were to be the basis of a future Nation. 
Other than that, it was but a statement of grievances against 
the King of England, some of them complaints of the very 
efforts he was making to suppress the rising rebellion, and 
some of a very shadowy and unsubstantial nature, serving as 
a general proclamation to the world of the causes or pretexts 
for revolution. 

Had the fortunes of war proved adverse, history would 
have regarded it as a mere hrutum fulmen — however full 
of dynamite it might have proved to its signers — and 
matters would have resumed their normal channels as in the 
case of other unsuccessful revolutions. The nearest ap- 
proach to the establishment of a government was in the con- 
temporaneous appointment of a committee of one from each 
of the Thirteen Colonies June 10, 1776, to report to Congress 
Articles of Confederation ; but five years passed by before 



4 

that committee presented its report and secured its adoption ; 
and, as we shall see, the Articles then proved but a feeble 
rope of sand. 

After July 4, 1776, there were nominally independent 
States, but no Nation for years to come ; and the lack of any 
cohesive governing body with actual power nearly brought 
to ruin the hopes engendered by the Declaration. 

Frothingham, in his Rise of the Republic, well says : " By 
the Declaration of Independence the sovereignty of Thirteen 
Colonies passed from the Crown to the People dwelling in 
them, not as an aggregate body but as forming States en- 
dowed with the functions necessary for their separate exist- 
ence, also States in Union," 

States in Union they were to a certain extent, and theoreti- 
cally endowed with the necessary functions ; but the nature 
of the Union, its powers and purposes, and its reality as a 
Nation were yet to be determined. 

To understand the situation and the results following the 
Declaration, it is necessary to consider the causes under- 
lying it and the course of events preceding it, and more 
particularly those of the few years immediately before its 
promulgation, when the controversies which in different 
forms and places had so long been raging in the Colonies 
rapidly approached a culmination. 

As far as Massachusetts was concerned, the quarrel with 
Gi-eat Britain may be said to have fairly begun almost with 
the settlement of the Colony, for there was hardly a time 
from the very beginning when she was not engaged in dis- 
putes with the mother country over Charters or Navigation 
Acts and Acts of Trade, or over the appointment of Royal 
officers, or over claims of Parliamentary powers openly or 
covertly resisted ; and outbursts of actual violence and re- 
sistance had not been infrequent in all her history. Her 
Colonial Governors and Assemblies had early announced 



that Acts of Parliament were not binding unless approved by 
local assemblies, and that was essentially the doctrine which 
was the very gist of the American Revolution. 

The long-continued indifference of the mother country to 
the assumption by the various Colonies of the right in large 
measure to legislate for themselves, had undoubtedly fos- 
tered a spirit of independence, which broke forth in open 
opposition when the British Parliament attempted to assume 
powers which, if they existed at all, had been so long dor- 
mant that to the Colonists their assertion could only appear 
as uncalled-for interference with the natural rights of free 
men. Duties upon imports into the Colonies had been im- 
posed by Great Britain long before 1765, and by many 
Statutes ; Royal officers had been appointed by the Crown ; 
— the logical difference between this right of external taxa- 
tion and that of internal taxation by stamp duties is not 
easy to define, and the more probable explanation of what 
followed the legislation from 1765 on is that the spirit of 
revolt was in the air and that the impatience of British 
authority had reached such a point that Acts of Parliament 
which earlier might not have been violently opposed, now 
aroused a people grown conscious of their own strength, and 
who, almost unknown to themselves, had begun to look upon 
independence as their right and ultimate destiny. Not, of 
course, that the question of independence had assumed a 
definite shape or become an acknowledged principle of ac- 
tion; but the feeling was there, and by force of circum- 
stances every step taken in assertion of Colony rights led 
straight to that goal. 

Some form of Union of the Colonies had been agitated for 
years. In 1754 a Congress of the Colonies met for confer- 
ence, but without positive results ; and in 1765 a Congress 
in New York, attended by delegates from nine Colonies, had 
gone so far as to issue a Declaration of Rights, and to take 



6 

• 

rather suggestive steps towards consolidating the people in 
defense of their imperilled Charters. The idea of union and 
harmony of action in resistance to British aggression and 
claims of Parliamentary domination, rapidly grew as the 
Colonies increased in population and importance, and the 
revived assumption of British power caused a bitter spirit of 
opposition. 

While Stamp Acts and Tea Acts and appointments by the 
Crown of Royal officers and judges were general in their 
application to the Colonies, Massachusetts was for a while 
the storm center ; and while the arbitrary closing of the Port 
of Boston, the quartering of troops upon the people, and 
other offensive acts were local in their effect, they were re- 
sented by all the Colonies as pointing to a common danger ; 
and resistance to stamp officers and to carrying into effect 
the tea and stamp Acts was by no means confined to 
Boston. 

New England, as feeling British action more directly, may 
have been more excited and violent in its opposition ; but 
Virginia was inspired by the same feeling, and her strong 
and active leaders of public sentiment were no less deter- 
mined and outspoken. In all the large cities like New York, 
Philadelphia, and Charleston there were scenes of violence 
and the most active opposition to British authority. North 
Carolina, with her large Scotch-Irish population, had already 
been in revolt against the ruling powers upon local questions, 
and was eager to espouse the common cause. Maryland, 
under a different form of government, and by reason of her 
different religious belief, not affected in the same way as 
Massachusetts by religious questions, was in full concert with 
New England in her resistance to Parliamentary claims ; and 
the other Colonies, though at first less openly affected by the 
general agitation and excitement, were early swept into the 
common sympathetic current. The growth of the inde- 



pendent spirit bore little relation to governmental forms or 
religious creeds or local characteristics. All the Colonies 
alike had acquired, to a greater or less degree, the habit of 
managing their own affairs unmolested, and had been com- 
pelled by their isolation and distance from the mother 
country to rely upon their own resources and make their 
own laws, with little regard to the assent or approval of 
Parliaments. 

Thus the Colonies, under the impulse of a common danger, 
drifted into actual revolution, not altogether as the result of 
oppression and injustice, but by the natural explosion of feel- 
ing pent up until it had reached the bursting point. 

Outwardly there was in the beginning but little talk of 
independence ; yet there were many who from the very out- 
set looked forward to it, and they were not slow to covertly 
add fuel to the flames. It is clearly evident that men like 
the two Adamses and their sympathizers in Virginia and other 
Colonies early grasped the real situation, and that, though 
guarded in expression for a while, they were not in doubt 
whither events were tending. In private, there was much talk 
of independence, and there were some bold outcroppings from 
individuals ; and it is probable that many felt what John Adams 
expressed in a letter to William Tudor, in 1818, that: " The 
Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The 
Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people." 

Soon the demand for a Congress of the Colonies to con- 
sider the situation and to take active steps for a redress of 
grievances became an overwhelming force, though, in the 
excited condition of the people's minds, it could not be other- 
wise than a serious proposition, full of hazard to those who 
still retained their allegiance to Great Britain and wished for 
nothing but reconciliation and peace. As with all revolu- 
tions, events were marching faster than men, and the un- 
wisdom of the British Parliament in forcing just then meas- 



ures which their wisest men foresaw were untimely and 
dangerous, brought things to a rapid termination. 

Responsive to the universal feeling, Virginia stood foremost 
for action; and early in 1774 formulated a proposal for a 
general Congress of the Colonies to consider the situation. 
The suggestion was eagerly caught up elsewhere, and was 
followed in June of that year by the appointment by Massa- 
chusetts of delegates to a Congress to meet in September in 
Philadelphia, and by her calling upon all the Colonies to unite 
in the movement proposed by Virginia. 

All the Colonies except Georgia promptly responded ; and 
at the time and place suggested, delegates chosen by regular 
assemblies or by self-constituted gatherings of the people, 
met together to confer as to what form of concerted action 
should be taken to maintain their rights and to defend their 
liberties. The Congress had no defined powers and no clearly 
outlined purpose, other than to compare notes and to see what 
measures could be jointly taken for the common welfare ; but 
as time went on, it assumed to itself broad powers, and took 
action such as its originators had little dreamed of. 

There was so little real union feeling among the distinct 
and separate Colonies, such jealousies and suspicions, such 
divergent thoughts and such diversity of grievances, that 
from the first it was easy to see how difficult it would be to 
harness into a national system such discordant Colonies ; and 
all the difficulties arising later, when independence was de- 
clared, were distinctly foreshadowed in the early delibera- 
tions. Sectional feeling, extreme sensitiveness over the rights 
of individual Colonies, abhorrence of anything resembling a 
central controlling power, were in evidence then as they have 
been since, down to this very present time. 

The Congress thus assembled was distinctly and pre-emi- 
nently a peace Congress. Whatever may have been in the 
minds of some of its more radical delegates, to the vast 



9 

majority there had as yet come no thought of separation from 
the mother country ; and the Congress looked hopefully for- 
ward to such concert of action only as would secure peaceful 
redress of grievances and a complete reconciliation. 

But loj&l and peaceable as the Congress was when it first 
met, it was early forced into such pronounced action that the 
prospect of reconciliation rapidly faded ; and with the cer- 
tainty that armed conflict impended, the only hope soon left 
was that war might lead to a better understanding and to 
ultimate peace without separation. 

As might have been expected, the delegates were in little 
accord as to what powers their constituents had conferred 
upon them, or as to the support they would have for any 
positive action they might take. The New England dele- 
gates were looked upon with suspicion, and their radical 
views were abhorred and had but little support except from 
Virginia and from a few individual delegates elsewhere ; but 
they were strong men, whose influence immensely increased 
as the difficulty of the situation became more plain and the 
necessity of positive measures of resistance more clearly 
developed. 

Von Hoist, in his Constitutional History of the United /States, 
thus describes the Congress: 

"How far the authority of the First Congress extended accord- 
ing to the instructions of its delegates, it is impossible to deter- 
mine with certainty at this distance of time ; but it is probable 
the original intention was that it should consult as to the ways 
and means calculated to remove the grievances and to guarantee 
the rights and liberties of the Colonies, and should propose to the 
latter a series of resolutions furthering these objects. But the 
force of circumstances compelled it to act and order immediately, 
and the people by a consistent following of its orders approved 
the transcending of the original instructions. The Congress was, 
therefore, not only a revolutionary body from its beginning, but 
its acts assumed a thoroughly revolutionary character." 



10 

This is an accurate description of the Congress, and it is not 
strange tliat with the existing uncertainty as to powers and 
purposes it proceeded ver}^ cautiously at the beginning. 

The first important acts were the issuing of Addresses to 
the King, to the people of Great Britain, and to the Colonies, 
a recommendation to the Colonies to adopt non-intercourse 
Acts, and the approval of a Declaration of Rights. 

The difficulty of the position at the outset is clearly shown 
by the impossibility of reconciling much of the language of 
these papers with any hope of reconciliation or of a peaceful 
redress of grievances. Singularly enough, the drafting of 
the Declaration of Rights was committed to John Adams, 
notwithstanding the knowledge the Congress had of his ad- 
vanced and positive views ; and the document itself bears 
incontestable marks of his authorship, for in plain words it 
asserted free and exclusive powers of legislation in the sev- 
eral Provincial Legislatures, and denied that " the indubitable 
rights and liberties of the people could be taken from them, 
abridged or altered by any power whatever without their own 
consent by their own representatives in their own several 
Provincial Legislatures." To the ordinary mind this would 
seem like shutting the door against possible reconciliation, 
for Great Britain could not possibly have admitted so bold 
a claim without assenting to virtual independence and the 
abandonment of all her claims. Whether the other delegates 
saw this or not, there is little doubt what Adams intended ; 
and we are not surprised therefore to find him writing to 
Mercy Otis Warren in 1807 that "the Declaration of Rights 
and Resolves of October 14, 1774, contain all the solid 
principles which nearly two years afterwards were inserted 
in the Declaration of Independence." 

Yet Congress unanimously adopted this Declaration in face 
of the fact that in its Memorial to the People of Great Britain 
it had said : " You have been told we are seditious, impatient 



11 

of government, and desirous of independency. Be assured these 
are not facts but calumnies." Here would seem a strange in- 
consistency or deception ; yet it was capable of a fair explana- 
tion without charging insincerity. To all the delegates, a firm 
stand seemed the only possibility of ultimate reconciliation ; 
and while more moderate men were deluding themselves with 
vain hopes, their more advanced brethren were well content 
with general professions of loyalty while events were inevita- 
bly tending to that independence to which it was not yet wise 
policy to openly commit themselves. 

It was evident enough that, whatever was intended, the only 
effect of the action taken at this session of Congress could be 
to increase disaffection and strengthen the growing hostility 
of the Colonies. 

Congress adjourned to May, 1775 ; but before it again met, 
the whole face of things changed more radically and with more 
rapidity than any delegate could have conceived possible. Be- 
fore the Spring of 1775, Massachusetts had flamed into open 
rebellion. The sequence of Stamp Acts and Tea Acts, of riotous 
assemblies, of the closing of the port, of the overbearing inso- 
lence of Royal officers, and of the various steps of Great 
Britain to enforce her authority, was the organization of the 
Massachusetts Provincial Assembly and its assumption of 
full control over Massachusetts Colonial affairs, even to the 
arming, equipping and drilling of military bodies in preparation 
for actual conflict. 

Naturally enough, an explosion followed, and April 19, 
1775, came the fight at Lexington and Concord between the 
Royal troops and the militia ; and whatever the situation may 
have elsewhere been, thenceforward Massachusetts, aided by 
the other New England Colonies, was at open war with Great 
Britain, and a New England army commanded by Artemas 
Ward, a Massachusetts General, and with other oflicers com- 
missioned by the Massachusetts Provincial Assembly, rapidly 



12 

• 

gathered at Cambridge and besieged the Royal troops in 
Boston. 

The die had been cast when the appeal went forth to the 
other Colonies to rally to the support of Massachusetts ; yet 
Congress resumed its sitting in May, apparently unconscious 
that the time for discussion had passed. It still talked recon- 
ciliation and again petitioned the King for redress of grievances, 
only to see its agent ignorainiously repulsed and its Memorial 
met by drastic orders against all who were in rebellion. 

Circumstances now forced its unwilling hand ; for the actual 
situation at Boston could not be ignored, and the Congress 
took the decisive step of adopting the army before Boston as a 
Continental Force, chose Washington as Commander-in-Chief, 
appointed other General Officers, made rules for governing the 
forces in the field, took action to create a navy and to issue 
letters of credit, and appointed agents to seek help from foreign 
powers. This was War, and so plainly spelled independence 
that the control of affairs rapidly centered in the more radical 
leaders like the Adamses, the Lees, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, 
Franklin, and others ; and while the main body of delegates 
hesitated and still hoped for peace, the country was committed 
to a settlement only to be reached by bloody conflict. 

Still, notwithstanding this warlike situation, outside of 
Massachusetts and of the minds of a few of the more active 
leaders, the hope of reunion had not been lost, and but little 
appreciation was had of the seriousness of the breach with the 
mother country. We find when Washington passed through 
New York to take command of the army at Cambridge, its 
Provincial Congress, in congratulating him upon his appoint- 
ment, expressed its belief — "that whenever this important 
contest shall be decided by that fondest wish of each American 
soul — an accommodation with our mother country — you will 
cheerfully resign the deposit committed into your hands." 
The first phase of nationality now appeared in the assump- 



13 

tion by Congress of extraordinary power over all the Colonies, 
acquiesced in without opposition, though few could have real- 
ized the" full import of such action. 

Washington with a body guard of Southern troops arrived 
in Cambridge July 2, 1775, to assume the duties of Com- 
mander-in-Chief imposed upon him by Congress ; but again the 
march of events had been so rapid and unforeseen as to change 
the face of things. A few weeks before his arrival a real battle 
had been fought, at Bunker Hill, between British troops and 
a local New England army under local officers, and the siege 
of Boston had been undertaken by this same army before its 
recognition by Congress. Washington thus found himself in 
command of a considerable force, which had tested its cour- 
age and strength in battle, and though undisciplined and 
wanting in equipment, was ready and anxious for conflict, and 
had precious little idea that its members were ever again to 
come under British sway. 

Congress again adjourned to September, but in a very differ- 
ent mood from that of its first meeting. The unexpected com- 
plications which had arisen showed that " reform within the 
party " was likely to be a failure, and that a war had been 
begun from which there was no retreat, except in separation 
from_the mother country. 

It is rather surprising to find that Von Hoist, in his History 
before referred to, says that : " Even in August or September, 
1775, — half a year after the battle of Lexington, — so strong 
was the Anglo-Saxon spirit of conservatism and loyalty among 
the Colonists that the few extremists who dared to speak of 
a violent disruption of all bonds entailed chastisement upon 
themselves and were universally censured." 

Certainly, as applied to New England, where there was open 
war, this could not have been true, and it was equally incorrect 
as to the attitude of leading spirits in Pennsylvania and Vir- 
ginia, and elsewhere in the South. The Suffolk Resolves, long 



14 

• 

before this, had pretty clearly spelled independence, and the 
Mecklenbiirgh Declaration in North Carolina, authentic cer- 
tainly in some form, had spoken plainly enough ; and there can 
be no doubt that the subject of independence was openly dis- 
cussed, not only in the army at Cambridge, but by a large por- 
tion of the press and in the correspondence of leading men 
everywhere. 

But whatever may have been the situation in the early 
Fall of 1775, the proclamation of the King in response to the 
second petition of Congress, which arrived October 31, and the 
news of the employment of Hessian troops, ended all hopes of 
a peaceful adjustment; and from that time forth independence 
was not only in the air, but openly urged upon the floor of 
Congress and throughout the Colonies. 

At the September Session delegates from Georgia appeared, 
and Congress thenceforward represented all the thirteen 
Colonies. 

Through the ensuing winter Congress, as it were, marked 
time, pulsing the sentiments of the people, discussing plans for 
confederation, listening, it is true, to suggestions of compromise 
but all the while exercising as far as practicable full powers of 
government in making steady preparations for war, equipping 
privateers, providing funds, accumulating supplies, and in dras- 
tic efforts to suppress the Tory element and disarm opposition. 
Further pretense of loyalty became absurd, and all energies 
were bent towards a war with the mother countjy, which 
could of necessity have but one successful issue, and that was 
separation. 

In December, Generals Montgomery and Arnold led a New 
England force in a brave but futile attack upon Montreal and 
Quebec, in the hope that Canada would cast in her lot with 
the Colonies. Ticonderoga and Crown Point were seized by 
irregular bodies of Colonial troops, thus forcing Congress 
somewhat unwillingly to determine the status of the British 



15 

soldiers captured and held as prisoners of war to provide for 
the disposition of guns, munitions of war, and supplies cap- 
tured in the forts, and to determine whether the forts should 
be held and garrisoned. All of these were crucial questions, 
and action upon them carried the Congress still farther 
towards actual war and separation. 

The British troops on their part now invaded Virginia. 
Norfolk was burned and a British fleet attacked Charleston, 
South Carolina, without success. These acts conspired to still 
more arouse and inflame the people, and they rapidly armed 
and troops were collected in the different Colonies for open 
war. 

About this time, in January, 1776, Thomas Paine issued his 
book entitled " Common Sense," setting forth in plainer terms 
than had yet been used the impossibility of reunion with 
Great Britain, and that the only hope was in independence. 
This publication had a tremendous effect upon the minds of 
the people, and strongly added to the growing feeling for 
independence. 

In March came the inspiring success of Washington in com- 
pelling the British troops to evacuate Boston, which effected 
a great change in the political situation, widened the seat of 
war by the transference of the army to New York and — more 
important than all — made a real Continental Army of what 
had theretofore been little but an irregular New England 
army. 

In nearly all the Colonies the move for independence rapidly 
gained force. Some local assemblies instructed their delegates 
to advocate it in Congress ; meetings in its favor were every- 
where held, and prominent leaders urged upon Congress that 
the time had come for positive action in that direction. 

On June 7, 1776, the final step was taken when Richard 
Henry Lee, on behalf of the Virginia delegates, acting under 
instructions from the Virginia Assembly, rose from his seat and 



46 

moved in Congress for the adoption of the Resolve that " these 
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent States ; that they be absolved from all allegiance to 
the British Crown, and that all political connection between 
them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally 
dissolved." Without hesitation John Adams of Massachu- 
setts, recognizing what had long been the dearest hope in his 
mind and in that of man}^ of the more pronounced delegates, 
seconded Lee's motion, and an earnest debate was opened upon 
the question of its acceptance by Congress. 

To many it was not a surprise, but naturally a considerable 
portion of the delegates were unprepared for so radical a step; 
— some, not disinclined to it themselves, were in grave doubt 
whether the Congress had power to act upon so drastic a 
Resolution. Some questioned whether the Colonies they 
represented would be willing to indorse it and instruct them 
to vote in its favor. There were no means of telling, and 
there was much real doubt whether any Colony outside of 
Massachusetts would show a majority of its people in favor of 
it. A warm discussion followed showing the divergent views 
of the delegates, and action was postponed until June 10. 
Upon that day the lines became more closely drawn, and it 
plainly appeared that Massachusetts, Virginia, New Hamp- 
shire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Georgia and Connecticut 
were ready to vote for it, but that New York, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, New Jersey, South Carolina and Maryland were 
not yet ready to commit themselves. It was deemed wise to 
further postpone definite action upon the Resolution, and its 
consideration was referred to the meeting of Congress July 1; 
but a very important step was taken by a vote of seven Colo- 
nies to five — one not voting — to appoint Committees to draft 
a form of Declaration of Independence, and to prepare Articles 
of Confederation for the government of tlie Colonies in case of 
separation. 



I 



17 

The advocates of independence naturally felt great en- 
couragement at this action, and every effort was made by 
personal appeal, letters and meetings, to influence the doubt- 
ful delegates. July 1, the debate upon the Resolution was 
resumed, and for nine hours was most earnest and vigorous. 
At the end, however, the Resolution was carried in the 
Committee. Nine Colonies — Massachusetts, Virginia, New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, North 
Carolina, New Jersey and Georgia — voting in its favor ; 
Pennsylvania and South Carolina voting against it; Delaware 
evenly divided and New York not voting. Tlie Committee 
rose and reported their action to the House, and the next 
day, July 2, the majority of the delegates of each of twelve 
Colonies voted to accept the Report, New York not voting 
in the absence of instructions. 

The formal Declaration drafted by the Committee was not 
adopted until July 4, when it received the assent of a major- 
ity of the delegates from each Colony except New York, and 
of that Colony July 9, through the unanimous action of the 
New York Convention. July 4, it was signed by John Han- 
cock, President, and Charles Thompson, Secretary, and ordered 
by Congress to be promulgated, although the actual signing 
by delegates was not completed until later, fifty-four having 
signed by August and one — Thomas McKean of Delaware — 
not sio^ninof until October, and Matthew Thornton of New 
Hampshire being the last signer, in November. 

It should be noted also that several of the signers were not 
elected delegates until after July 4. 

Thus, after hesitation and debate and with much pressure 
upon the doubtful members, the independence of the Thirteen 
Colonies was declared with substantial unanimity, and they 
thenceforward became Thirteen States in nominal union. 
No declaration was made of an independent Nation, and it 
hardly could be said that a Nation yet existed, although Con- 



18 

gress did thereafter refer to the States in union as a Nation, 
and actually refused to listen to the Peace Commissioners 
because they did not present credentials to an independent 
State, or in terms consistent with "the honor of an 
independent Nation." 

It is singular, too, that there appears no determination or 
declaration that there was to be a Republic, nor was there any 
such provision until the Constitution of 1789, except that the 
Northwestern Ordinance of 1787 provided that new States 
should have republican governments ; and no provision 
whatever was made for any form of national government, 
other than the appointment before noted of a Committee to 
report Articles of Confederation upon some future day not 
stated. 

Under these circumstances the Congress could only take 
to itself the governing power, though it had obviously been 
chosen for an entirely different purpose and had had no such 
power conferred upon it by its constituents. 

The strange spectacle was now presented of thirteen new 
independent States embarking upon a war with one of the 
most powerful nations of the earth, without preparation, with- 
out a definite head, under the leadership of a Congress which 
itself had no powers except such as it assumed, and — worse 
still — when few of the States had anything in the shape of a 
government, and when the others, if not overrun by British 
troops and unable to form a government, were totally dis- 
organized and in confusion owing to internal struggles between 
the revolutionists and the active and numerous Tories. 

The prospect seemed desperate enough at best ; but to add 
to the difficulties, not long after the Declaration a sort of 
paralysis seemed to come over the Congress, and the re- 
markable efficiency it had so far shown was curiously fol- 
lowed by a period of indecision and weakness. The factious 
disputes which followed, in the only body having any power 



19 

at all, were most unfortunate and seemed to indicate the 
early destruction of the new Confederation. 

The Congress of 1774 had been a remarkable body. It 
had faithfully and skillfully devoted itself to a difhcult and 
perplexing task ; it had been untiring and indefatigable, and 
in the infinite and laborious details to which the individual 
members gave themselves, they were worthy of all praise. 
It had had to create, equip and organize an army ; to nego- 
tiate loans for a country without standing or credit ; to create 
governmental agencies of all kinds out of the rawest of mate- 
rial; to provide arms, ammunition and supplies without a 
commissary department or any known sources from which 
they could be drawn ; to open communications with foreign 
powers and to seek aid by loans or otherwise ; to create a 
navy and prize courts ; to build up some sort of governments 
for the States unable to create their own, — States jealous, 
too, of one another and of any attempt by Congress to enforce 
powers ; and all this and more had to be done with a large 
part of the people actually hostile to the cause, and with the 
knowledge that Congressional power over its armies was so 
loose that the latter were liable to dissolve and disappear at 
any time, according to the whims of the men enlisted. 

The task was a stupendous one, but had been dealt with 
with remarkable success and with wise management and 
courage ; but when efficiency was most needed, in the fall 
of 1776, Congress lost its grip, became the prey to discour- 
agement and almost despair, and its action was palsied by 
petty quarrels and disagreements. 

There were many things that conspired to bring this 
about: Washington's defeat in New York and its occupation 
by the British ; the invasion of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania and of the South carried dismay and discouragement, 
and it was of serious importance that Congress had lost many 
able and experienced members by the demand upon them, 



20 

• 

in their own States, to fill important positions. There was 
the necessity, farther, of sending strong men abroad as agents 
to foreign powers, and there were serious losses in member- 
ship by the withdrawal of some from lack of sympathy with 
the radical action taken. There was also the neglect or 
refusal of the States to complete their quotas of troops ; their 
delays in honoring requisitions for food or supplies to the 
starving army ; the unfortunate jealousies and bickerings 
among the officers ; the falling off of enlistments, and the 
frequent desertions from the army. It was not strange that 
such a combination of discouragements had a disastrous 
effect, and that it soon led to a general tone of despondency 
and a listlessness and inactivity at a time when the utmost 
energy and exertion was imperatively needed. 

The failure of Washington's campaign in New York, and 
his retreat southward, roused a dangerous opposition to his 
leadership, which had the active or concealed support of 
eminent members of Congress, and might have been success- 
ful but for the brilliant and unexpected victories at Trenton 
and Princeton, and the reaction among the people in New 
Jersey and elsewhere, caused by the brutally offensive con- 
duct of the Hessian troops. The revolutionary cause was thus 
early in dire peril, and that it rallied was due, more than to 
any other thing, to the efficient support given Washington by 
£)fficers of the armj^ like Greene, Lincoln, Knox and Hamilton, 
and to the self-sacrificing spirit of individuals like Trumbull 
of Connecticut, Robert Morris, the Lees, Livingston, Rutledge, 
and others of extensive influence whose efforts and example 
rallied the people, shamed and overthrew the cabals in Con- 
gress, and erelong created such a healthy revulsion of feeling 
that Congress changed its policy of hesitation and opposition, 
conferred upon Washington a practical dictatorship, again 
gave him its confidence and extended to him a much more 
cordial and active support. 



21 

But the real trouble was the lack of any central govern- 
ment with defined powers that it could enforce upon the 
States through its own courts. The Union was largely a 
sentimental one, with no cohesive power and with little 
hearty and unselfish State co-operation, — hence neglect by 
the States to answer requisitions enfeebled the army and 
hindered warlike operations, while the truly patriotic officers 
whose hard lot it was to resist the invaders with armies it 
was almost impossible to retain in the field, were hampered 
by disputes over rank and the constant jealousies of officers 
from one State against those from other States. No help 
came from the new Articles of Confederation, for the Com- 
mittee of Thirteen appointed in June, 1776, failed to report 
until April, 1777, and then the only member of the original 
Committee still in Congress was Samuel Adams, and he was 
not present when the vote was taken in Congress for the 
adoption of the Articles. After adoption, November 15, 1777, 
they were referred to the States for ratification, and as the 
votes of all thirteen were required, it was not until March, 
1781, that the assent of the last State, Maryland, was assured, 
her action having been postponed until a shadowy promise 
could be obtained from some of the States and Congress that 
the portions of the Northwestern Territory, claimed by the 
States, should be ceded for the common benefit. The failure 
of the States to act in this matter brought about, as we shall 
see later, the agitation that resulted in the Constitutional 
Convention. 

It is well to notice here in passing how frequently our 
Revolutionary history encountered the fateful number thir- 
teen. There were thirteen States — there were thirteen Ar- 
ticles of Confederation — there were thirteen years between 
the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the 
Constitution, and there were thirteen Stars and thirteen 
Stripes upon the American flag, but notwithstanding all 



22 

this and the plain violation of many of the laws of economics 
and finance the country has survived and been blessed to an 
uncommon degree. 

The attitude of Congress is well described by Hart in his 
American Nation, when he says : " In all that Congress did, it 
never seemed to entertain a doubt about its actual subordina- 
tion to the Colonial Assemblies which it represented. Up to the 
time of the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, Congress 
was merely the central office of a continental signal system. 
Its bulletins were made laws by the Assemblies, not because 
the recommendations were looked upon as having legal form, 
but because they were accepted as the most trustworthy read- 
ings of the signs of the times." 

It is not my purpose to set forth or discuss the events of the 
war, except so far as they bore upon the governmental situation ; 
and there was but little change in this respect between 1777 
and 1781. The war was carried on by Congress, with such aid 
as it could get from the States, with more or less efficiency and 
with indeterminate results, until the important alliance with 
France was effected, and her troops and navies appeared upon 
the scene. The blame for conditions existing was no more 
with Congress than with the States, and was clearly the 
fault of the system and the utter lack of any controlling 
power. 

The Articles having been ratified by all the thirteen States, 
the Congress of the Confederation met November 30, 1781 ; 
but new duties and responsibilities were then imposed upon a 
new Congress no whit stronger than the previous one, and with 
its powers but little enlarged by the Articles, — in fact, to a 
certain extent they were lessened, for the old Congress could 
properly claim that its powers were unlimited, while after adop- 
tion they were to some extent more clearly defined, though no 
greater power existed of enforcing them upon the States. The 
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown had, however, practically 



23 

ended the war ; and this of itself materially changed the 
situation. 

There was now a little more substantial shadow of real gov- 
ernment, for the Articles of Confederation provided that the 
citizens of each State should have, in the different States, the 
privileges and immunities granted to citizens of the several 
States, that Congress should have the express right to deter- 
mine war and peace, might raise forces and make rules there- 
for ; might levy taxes (whether collectible or not), might fix the 
value of coinage, make treaties with foreign powers, regulate 
the post office, settle disputes between the States, and establish 
foreign courts. So much was a gain; but there was still the 
lack of responsible executive power or of any judiciary to en- 
force Congressional Acts ; and what above all else was pecul- 
iarly unfortunate and leading to inevitable disaster, the 
States were left to regulate commerce with the result that 
might have been expected, that the various States imme- 
diately undertook to enact hostile legislation upon commerce 
against each other, and internecine commercial warfare was 
thus inaugurated, sure to breed bad feeling and enmity be- 
tween the States ; further, no important legislation could be 
had without the assent of the States, and the Articles were 
capable of amendment only by the agreement of the whole 
thirteen. The most that can be said is that these Articles 
did give a foreshadowing of a division of powers between 
a central government and the States, but it was too indefi- 
nite to make the scheme a real workable plan. Von Hoist 
says of it : " The governmental machinery of the Confederation 
was as imperfect and clumsy as it could well be. It not infre- 
quently seemed as if it would cease working altogether. . , . 
The moment all external pressure [of the war] was removed, 
the crazy structure began to fall to pieces with a rapidity which 
astonished even those who had, during the struggle, the best 
opportunity to learn its weaknesses." 



24 

• 

The Confederation was quite as unprepared for peace as it 
had been for war. It was able to negotiate a treaty of peace 
with Great Britain, but with the humiliating feeling — erelong 
to be made a certainty — that it could give no guaranty that 
the States would abide by its terms ; and in fact these were so 
openly and flagrantly violated and disregarded that foreign 
powers looked on aghast, having no faith in the permanency of 
such an Union, and expectant only that it would soon break 
into fragments which would be absorbed by France or other 
powers. 

Bad as the Congressional situation unquestionably was, — 
internal perils were equally threatening, — the States would 
not or could not furnish money to pay the troops. The war 
was over and their term of enlistment had expired, but such a 
dissatisfied and mutinous spirit prevailed in the army that Con- 
gress was fearful that it could not peacefully be disbanded while 
its just demands were unsatisfied ; to make things worse, for- 
eign loans were coming due, to which the honor of the country 
was pledged ; yet no money was forthcoming to pay them. The 
wisdom and firmness of Washington, ably seconded by his lead- 
ing officers, averted trouble with the army, and with difficulty 
the loans were partially paid or extended through such State 
aid as could be got and by tlie unselfish action of individual 
patriots. The final disbandment of the army was effected ; but, 
unfortunately, that threw upon the country a large body of 
unemployed men without means of support, just at the time 
when business became stagnant, owing to the loss of markets 
which had been available during the war, and to the sudden 
closing of important avenues of profit. The currency, too, was 
depreciated and in utter confusion, and neither Congress nor 
the States had any credit at home or abroad. Raw and inex- 
perienced men, often without standing in the community, were 
largely at the head of affairs in the States, in place of the num- 
ber of wealthy and influential citizens who had fled or been 



25 

diiven away ; and demagogues availed themselves of their 
opportunity to exploit to ready hearers all kinds of wild finan- 
cial schemes and projects. 

Owing to the awkward provision as to amendment of the 
Articles of Confederation, Congress was soon left in a help- 
less position, and it was no wonder that attendance upon its 
meetings so fell off that at times no quorum could be had, 
and seldom could there be mustered at any session over twenty- 
five members out of the total ninety-one. To ratify the Treaty 
of Peace, only twenty-three members representing eleven 
.States could be assembled ; and when Washington appeared 
before Congress to resign his command, only twenty members 
were present, representing seven States. It became a peripa- 
tetic body, now meeting in one place, now in another. It was 
bad enough when money was wanting to pay foreign loans, 
but the situation was hopeless when the States neglected or 
refused to furnish money for the ordinary expenses of govern- 
ment, and capped their neglect in some cases by treating Con- 
gress with contempt and by alluding to it as a foreign power, 
without resources or honor. One newspaper described it as 
" a pendulum vibrating between Annapolis and New York," 
and another, " like unto a wheel rolling from Dan to. Beer- 
sheba and from Beersheba to Dan, with no rest this side of 
Jordan." 

Naturally, Congress lost interest and power, literally fell to 
pieces, and practically abandoned its sittings. In the States 
things were hardly better ; some of the new State govern- 
ments were exceedingly unstable — very few had formulated 
constitutions ; there was violent commercial war between the 
different States, those having ports taxed the imports coming 
through them from other States, and others levied direct taxes 
upon goods coming into their borders ; State navigation laws 
treated citizens of other States as aliens, in violation of the 
Articles of Confederation to which all the States had formally 



26 

• 

agreed. When Congress at the instance of our ministers abroad 
urged treaties amending the navigation laws to prevent the ex- 
clusion of our ships from foreign ports, though it was for their 
own benefit the States would take no action ; the treaties made 
with England, France and Holland were openly disregarded ; 
contrary to express stipulations of the treaty with England, 
the property of Tories was confiscated and their persons im- 
perilled ; laws were made in the vain hope of compelling 
people to trade at the face value of a heavily depreciated paper 
currency ; and perhaps more dangerous than all, actual conflict 
between the States was threatened over the disputed claims to 
Northern and Western territory. 

Independent Confederacies began to be talked of; the new 
settlers on Western lands threatened to set up for themselves 
or even to combine with Spain ; the State courts fell into dis- 
repute and a bitter feeling of hatred and jealousy was aroused 
against law and lawyers, resulting in a serious rebellion in 
Massachusetts requiring a formidable body of State troops for 
its suppression. 

The discontent and bewilderment of the people was studi- 
ously fomented by many of those who had been lukewarm in 
the Revolution and who still regarded the principles of the 
Declaration of Independence as impracticable folly. Anarchy 
seemed in plain view ; the people were showing themselves 
unfit for self-government, and thus early loomed the spectacle 
deprecated long after by Daniel Webster of " States dissev- 
ered, discordant, belligerent — a land rent with civil feuds and 
drenched it may be in fraternal blood." Dr. Jeremy Belknap, 
writing to Ebenezer Hazard in 1784, says : " Imagine thirteen 
independent clocks going all together by the force of their 
own weights, and carrying thirteen independent hammers 
fitted to strike on one bell." 

Some remedy it was imperatively necessary to find ; — yet 
what? The States were so determined in opposition to any 



27 

central power which might limit or restrict their rights that 
amendment of the Articles of Confederation in that direction 
seemed hopeless ; and when the Legislature of New York de- 
clared in 1782 that the source of existing embarrassments was 
the lack of power in Congress, and suggested a Convention 
to amend the Articles, Congress saw no way of acting in the 
matter, and nothing came of it. 

Various attempts to amend equally failed ; and it was not 
until the Shays rebellion brought the country face to face with 
chaos that leading men everywhere bestirred themselves and 
anxiously sought by conference and correspondence, and 
through newspapers and pamphlets, to devise some plan 
acceptable to the country, which would save the trembling 
government and promote public order through some stronger 
central power, 

Washington, deeply concerned at the situation, wrote: 
" There are combustibles in every State which a spark might 
set fire to ... I feel infinitely more than I can express for 
the disorders which have arisen in these States. The rebellion 
[Shays's], therefore, by disclosing the danger, helped to bring 
about a reaction, strengthen the hands of the conservatives, 
discredit extreme democratic tendencies, and aid the men that 
were seeking to give vigor to the Union." 

Though for a long time no concert of action seemed 
possible, an unexpected way out was ultimately found in a 
movement which in its inception was for an entirely different 
purpose. 

Reference has been made to the opposition of Maryland to 
the ratification of the Articles of Confederation until some 
guarantees were given that the States would cede to Congress 
for the benefit of the Nation their claims to the Northern and 
Western Territory. The vague promises made were not 
fulfilled, and midst the turmoil in various quarters upon this 
question, ugly disputes arose as to the navigation of the 
Mississippi and a troublesome local question between Mary- 



28 

• 

land and Virginia over rights to the navigation of the Potomac. 
In 1777, those States appointed commissioners to confer upon 
the matter, but no adjustment was reached. The trouble in- 
creased, and in 1784, Virginia again appointed Commissioners, 
but without result; in 1785, Maryland suggested the co- 
operation of Pennsylvania and Delaware as interested par- 
ties — still with no conclusion. 

No definite action was taken until 1786, when Virginia went 
farther and appointed Commissioners to meet those of other 
States to consider the trade of the Union, and invited all the 
States to send delegates to a meeting in Annapolis in Septem- 
ber, 1786. Five States responded by delegates, and discussion 
was had of existing conditions throughout the Union. Finally, 
upon motion of Alexander Hamilton, tlie meeting resolved to 
lay before Congress a plan for a general Convention in Phila- V 
delphia in May, 1787, "to make the constitution of Federal^' 
Government adequate to the emergencies of the Union." 
This was a decided and broad step forward, and in February, 
1787, Congress took the matter up, and though it made no 
reference to the Annapolis Convention, voted to call a Con- 
vention of all the States in Philadelphia in May, " for the 
sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confed- 
eration and reporting to Congress and the several Legisla- 
tures such alterations and provisions thereof as shall, when 
agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render 
the Federal Constitution adequate to exigencies of the gov- 
ernment and the preservation of the Union." 

It is well to note how carefully limited this vote was, and 
that its wording seemed to contemplate nothing more than 
amendment of the existing Articles of Confederation requir- 
ing the assent of all the thirteen States ; but the people 
eagerly grasped at some method of ending the political con- 
fusion, and were not disposed to be critical of the exact 



29 

terms so long as action might result in a government with 
real power to legislate and to enforce its acts. That the 
subsequent Convention departed pretty widely from the 
words and meaning of the vote in formulating an entirely 
new Constitution requiring for its ratification the assent of 
but nine States, can hardly be doubted; and it was not 
strange that, later on, those opposed to the Constitution 
found cogent and plausible arguments against it in this 
seeming assumption of powers not conferred upon the Con- 
vention, and claimed with some force that it proposed a se- 
cession from Articles of Confederation to which all the thirteen 
States had pledged themselves. 

The response, however, to the action of Congress was im- 
mediate, and all the States except Rhode Island chose dele- 
gates to attend the Convention. 

It assembled in Philadelphia in May, 1787, and showed a 
body of men unequalled by any that had before assembled in 
America and not surpassed since ; for among its members 
were a very large part of the most eminent and active patriots 
of the Revolution — soldiers, civilians, lawyers and states- 
men. Some able men like Jefferson and John Adams, who 
probably would have been members, were abroad on foreign 
missions ; and, unfortunately, some well-known patriots like 
Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and others, stood aloof, dis- 
approving tlie Convention and its purpose ; but there were 
Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin, James Wilson, the 
Pinckneys, Randolph, Dickinson, Rufus King, John Langdon, 
Caleb Strong, Nathaniel Gorham, Jared Ingersoll, Jonathan 
Dayton, William S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, Oliver Ells- 
worth, Elbridge Gerry and many others, representing the 
best intellect and statesmanship of the country. 

A majority representation from seven States was secured 
May 25, when Washington was chosen President of the 
Convention and William Jackson Secretary. New Hamp- 



30 

• 

shire appeared in June, and a little later representation was 
secured from all the States except Rhode Island. 

On May 28, at the first meeting, there appeared great 
divergence of views among the delegates as to the powers 
conferred upon them, and as to what action could be taken 
in conformity with the call for the Convention. There were 
three distinct groups, each holding its opinions with great 
positiveness, so much so as to make ultimate agreement seem 
almost hopeless. There were those who songht a National 
Government with sovereign powers, but leaving the inde- 
pendent States in control of local matters not inconsistent with 
the necessary powers of the central government, yet giving the 
larger States the dominating power. There were others who 
insisted that the National Government should be supreme even 
to the extinction of the independent States, thus creating a 
semi-monarchical form of government ; and there was yet 
another group which sought only a Confederation similar to 
that already existing, remedying existing defects by conferring 
enlarged powers upon Congress. 

In addition to these divergencies were the sectional jeal- 
ousies already appearing between North and South, and the 
alarm of the smaller States lest they be overwhelmed and 
controlled by the power of the larger States. Several plans 
were proposed. Virginia, through Edmund Randolph, sub- 
mitted an outline of a Constitution with fifteen articles. 
Charles Pinckney of South Carolina submitted another with 
sixteen articles, in general harmony with Randolph's ; and 
William Patterson of New Jersey submitted one with eleven 
articles which more nearly represented the views of those who 
wanted merely a Confederation. 

Without following the debates in the Convention, we can 
refer here only to the general results, remembering that those 
were reached only after prolonged and heated debate, during 
which some members withdrew from the Convention. The 



31 

Patterson resolutions were not approved, but the Randolph 
resolutions, modified by Pinckney's and consisting, when re- 
ported, of nineteen articles, were submitted to the whole House, 
June 19. Parts of them were adopted, but the crucial proposi- 
tions — those relating to the nature, tenure and power of the 
Executive, the establishment of National Courts, the tenure and 
power of the Judges and by whom they should be appointed, 
and the question of whether there should be one or two 
Houses of Congress, and in either case in what way the 
States should be represented, particularly those States in 
which slaves formed part of the population — all these ques- 
tions caused violent discussion and were only finally settled 
by a compromising spirit and by majority votes. 

The question as to Congress came near to disrupting the 
Convention. No agreement could be reached in Convention 
and the matter was finally referred to a Committee to report 
some definite plan. With infinite difficulty that Committee 
in the end came to an agreement that there should be two 
Houses, — one composed of members elected by the States in 
proportion to the population, the slaves being reckoned upon 
a fractional enumeration, and the other with equal representa- 
tion from each State. The Convention having adopted this 
plan, nothing remained to excite discussion except the pro- 
vision that the Constitution should go into effect upon its 
ratification by nine States. It was argued with much force by 
those opposed to it, that this was in direct contravention to the 
Articles of Confederation, which all the States had agreed to 
and which required the assent of the whole thirteen to any 
amendment or alteration, and in fact constituted a secession 
by nine States. 

The Article was finally carried, however, by a majority vote 
of eleven States, and by the vote of Alexander Hamilton of 
New York, and the Constitution as adopted ordered, Septem- 
ber 17, 1787, to be transmitted to Congress to be by that body 



32 

• 

submitted to Conventions of the States for ratification. The 
narrow escape of the Convention from utter failure is evi- 
denced by the fact that of the sixty-five delegates chosen as 
members, eleven declined or did not attend ; that the largest 
number ever in attendance at any one time was fifty-five, 
although two new members had been appointed in place of 
the two declining ; that three members withdrew ; that nine 
others were^ not present when the Constitution was adopted ; 
that three who were present — Randolph, Mason and Gerry 
— refused to sign ; and that, ultimately, but thirty-nine dele- 
gates actually signed the Constitution. 

The Convention dissolved, by no means sure that Congress 
or the States would approve its action. Washington himself 
is reported to have exclaimed in intense anxiety that if that 
Constitution failed of ratification, no other Constitution could 
be recalled in peace, but the next would be written in 
blood. 

In reading what is published of the debates in Convention, 
the papers in the Federalist, and the discussion; in the 
States, upon the question of ratification, one is struck with 
the fact that nearly every question now exciting the public 
mind was then thoroughly considered, so that questions now 
termed progressive seem almost reactionary. The tenure and 
power of the Executive were exhaustively discussed ; the 
eligibility to re-election ; the tenure and power of the judges 
and their responsiveness to public opinion ; the whole tlieory 
of representative government ; the method of electing Sena- 
tors and Representatives ; the advantages or dangers of un- 
checked popular action — all the arguments pro and con with 
which we are now familiar were then brought forward and 
carefully weighed, and that, too, by the ablest minds and the 
clearest thinkers this country has ever produced. The result 
excited the admiration of the world, and has wonderfully stood 
the test of over a century and a quarter. If the work can be 



33 

improved upon to-day, the least that can be asked is delibera- 
tion and the careful thought of our strongest statesmen. 

Congress received the work of the Convention with some 
coohiess and with evident inclination at first to object to it 
as contrary to the powers conferred upon the Convention ; — 
but the perilous condition of the country and the imperative 
necessity of speedy action so far influenced them that, Sep- 
tember 28, 1787, it was voted to submit the Constitution to 
Conventions in the States as recommended. 

This action, however, did not end the matter, for fierce 
factional contests over the ratification of the Constitution 
arose in the different States, and the result was long in doubt. 

Eminent patriots like Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, 
Clinton, Mason and others bitterly opposed it, while some 
whose aid was greatly needed rendered hesitating support. 
How evenly divided the parties were in the several States is 
shown by the following votes : 

Delaware, December 7, 1787, New Jersey, December 15, 

1787, and Georgia, January 2, 1788, ratified it unanimously ; 
Pennsylvania was the scene of most bitter conflict, but ratified 
December 12, 1787, by a vote of 46 to 23 ; Connecticut ratified 
January 9, 1788, 128 to 40; Massachusetts, long doubtful 
and secured only by the conversion of Samuel Adams and 
Hancock, ratified February 6, 1788, 187 to 168 ; Maryland, 
after a hard contest, April 28, 1788, 63 to 12 ; South Carolina, 
May 23, 1788, 149 to 73 ; Virginia, after great excitement, 
June 25, 1788, 89 to 79. Thus the nine States were secured, 
and in fact ten, — for New Hampshire had ratified June 21, 

1788, 57 to 46, but the news had not been received when the 
vote of Virginia was returned. July 26, 1788, New York 
ratified, 30 to 27, insisting at the same time, as several other 
States did, upon the adoption of amendments proposed, some 
of which were subsequently included ; November 21, 1789, 



34 

• 

North Carolina ratified, 193 to 75, and the last of the thirteen 

— Rhode Island — ratified May 29, 1790, 34 to 32. 

July 2, 1788, after ratification by nine States, as provided, 
the President of Congress reported their action, and Congress, 
September 13, 1788, appointed tlie first Wednesday in 
January, 1789, for the choice of electors in the several states 
which before said day should have ratified the Constitution, 

— the first Wednesday in February for the electors to as- 
semble in their respective States and vote for a President, 
and the first Wednesday in March in New York for the 
beginning of the new Government ; and there, April 30, 1789, 
George Washington was inaugurated as the first President 
of the United States. 

Thus, after thirteen years of indecision, weakness and strife, 
the United States stood forth as a real Nation with a govern- 
ment, republican in form and endowed with the powers of a 
sovereign Nation. The Declaration of Independence was 
at last made effective, and the American Revolution was 
completed. 



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